Google Glass tries again, this time appearing in doctors' consultations

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Google this week announced a new version of its Glass technology, refocusing on ways it can be deployed in enterprise settings such as hospitals.

Glass didn't end up being the hot consumer gadget the company had hoped for when it was unveiled amid much hype in 2013. But it's been finding a foothold as a workplace tool in the years since – not least in healthcare.

In a blog post, Jay Kothari, project lead at Glass, said the tool is helping mechanics at GE Aviation perform engine maintenance, showing mechanics "videos, animations and images right in their line of sight so they don’t have to stop work to check their binders or computer to know what to do next."

It's also been deployed at dozens of other businesses, including Boeing, DHL and Volkswagen.

Beyond manufacturing and logistics, healthcare is one of the top areas Glass Enterprise Edition is finding success.

Customers in the US include two California-based health organisations. At Dignity Health, physicians use an app called Augmedix that allows them to better connect with their patients by looking them in the eye while note taking is being done in the background.

The health system's CMIO, Dr Davin Lundquist, was quoted by Kothari as saying Glass had helped physicians double their time with patients by reducing the time needed to type up notes and other administrative work from 33 per cent to less than 10 per cent of each day.

At Sutter Health, doctors found similar time savings when using the high tech specs with Augmedix technology. By enabling better connections with patients, Sutter's chief of digital patient experience Dr Albert Chan reportedly said, Glass had "brought the joys of medicine back to my doctors."